4. Mizuki vs. Arisu Endo Arisu Endo has a small body but is pushing herself beyond her physical limitations in a good way. I was impressed by some of the moves she performed here, such as the "hop-up dropkick" to Mizuki who was on the top …

NJPW/Stardom - Historic X-over (11/20/2022) IWGP Women's Championship (decision): Mayu Iwatani vs. KAIRI Mayu Iwatani began the match as " Killer Mayu" with an assault targeting KAIRI's ailing arm, but by the end, both were in zombie mode …

1. High Speed Championship: AZM (c) vs. Momoka Hanazono AZM, steady and sharp as usual, adapted to her opponent's hybrid style well. Hanazono is small but has a bulky physique and rugby background, and brought some power elements to "high …

7. Wonder of Stardom Championship: Saya Kamitani (c) vs. Mina Shirakawa I never imagined Mina Shirakawa would become such a soul-stirring performer. Her love and dedication for pro-wrestling could be felt during and after the match. Finish…

4. Red Goddess: Syuri vs. Tomoka Inaba vs. Starlight Kid & Momo Watanabe I knew Syuri & Inaba would make a good duo, but they were more fun than I expected. Such a refreshing and dynamic tag team. And of course BLACK DESIRE, who have been …

Tokyo Joshi Pro - The Mountain Top 2022 (10/29/2022) International Princess Championship: Miu Watanabe (c) vs. Moka Miyamoto It is always nice to see two wrestlers in their early 20s main eventing a relatively big show for a title. Miu's c…

RCW (10/22/2022) Miyu Yamashita vs. Millie McKenzie This was another great showing from Miyu Yamashita against a foreigner in Spain. They are about the same size so I think they were well matched up. A gradual progression towards heavier t…

Gatoh Move - #TropicalNight (9/29/2022) Emi Sakura vs. Yuna Mizumori Good amount of heavyweight physicality and emotional muddiness for Yunamon's Gatoh Move send-off. Emi Sakura is a pro-wrestling master whose craftsmanship never ceases to…

3. Suzume vs. Ryo Mizunami Suzume is a testament that with enough heart it doesn't matter how silly your gimmick is. She was so great as an underdog trying to find various angles to attack the larger, stronger opponent from. Her plancha ha…

1. Blue Stars: MIRAI vs. Saya Iida A hot opening match. Iida packs heavy chops and lariats despite having a petit body. The lariat battle that developed on the outside was spectacular. As usual MIRAI brought the novelty with a yurikamome x…

2. Blue Stars: Starlight Kid vs. Suzu Suzuki Starlight Kid and Suzu Suzuki seem to be the closest you could get to the Hiromu/Desperado dynamic in women's wrestling. The similarity in body shape and style and their bold personalities and v…

SEAdLINNNG (9/22/2022) SEAdLINNNG Beyond the Sea Tag Team Championship: ASUKA & Makoto (c) vs. Riko Kaiju & Ayame Sasamura Riko Kaiju, SEAd's only rookie and the youngest member of its four-man roster, feels like the promotion's last hope.…

Stardom - 5STAR Grand Prix 2022 (9/24/2022) Blue Stars: Giulia vs. Saya Kamitani The 2020 GP match between these two was a personal gem of mine and I couldn't wait to see them face again. They have an excellent chemistry; their timing and …

1. Blue Stars: Hanan vs. Suzu Suzuki A nice compact sprint opener. Even though Hanan has no possibility of advancing to the tournament finals, she fought with a lot of urgency and emotion and showed her pride as pro-wrestler. Suzu's abilit…

Ice Ribbon - #1230 ~ Ribbon No Kishitachi 2022 ICExInfinity Championship: Saori Anou (c) vs. Stephanie Vaquer A nichiboku visual battle. This reminded me of one of the better matches you'd see from "gaijin of the month" era Stardom. Stepha…

BLP - Turbo Graps 24 (9/24/2022) Jungle Kyona vs. Skye Blue I found this to be a much better showing for Jungle Kyona than the DPW match. The match had more energy and dynamism. It helped that she had someone like Skye Blue to work with, w…

Stardom - 5STAR Grand Prix 2022 (9/19/2022) Red Stars: Utami Hayashishita vs. SAKI Utami and SAKI matched up surprisingly better than I was expecting them to. This was a great match between power fighters. It built up gradually from headlo…

WAVE (9/18/2022) WAVE Tag Team Championship: SAKI & Hikari Shimizu (c) vs. Haruka Umesaki & Miyuki Takase This went the full 30-minutes. It was almost a marathon of back and forth offense and defense with neither team gaining a true lead. …

4. Blue Stars: Mina Shirakawa vs. Starlight Kid Another grueling limb war involving Mina Shirakawa, who has firmly developed her fighting style in this tournament. Mina mixed up other forms of offense with her leg attacks to keep Kid guess…

5. Blue Stars: MIRAI vs. Mina Shirakawa Strong style in its truest form. A combination of martial arts standing techniques and ground work. MIRAI and Shirakawa have both really honed their styles of fighting in this tournament, especially …

Gatoh Move - Phoenix Rises (9/15/2022) Mei Suruga vs. Yuna Mizumori This is the type of match I would like to see the Super Asia title contested for. A short 20 minutes filled with creative twists and turns. It became a bit one-note as the…

Ice Ribbon - #1224 (8/28/2022) ICExInfinity Championship: Saori Anou (c) vs. Maika Ozaki This was better than I was expecting. Maika Ozaki has a personality deficiency, but Saori Anou did her best creating a story of sheer struggle around …

Tokyo Joshi Pro - TJPW AUTUMN TOUR '22 (9/16/2022) International Princess Championship - #1 Contendership: Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume Miu and Suzume wrestled perfectly to their archetypes. Miu as a big, muscular athletic grappler and Suzume a…

2. Blue Stars: Mina Shirakawa vs. Ami Sohrei Mina showed a glimpse of what she can do with a figure-four leglock in her match against Giulia, and in this match she was fully focused on working the leg, finding a variety of angles to attack…

5. Blue Stars: Saya Kamitani vs. Suzu Suzuki I never imagined Saya Kamitani and Suzu Suzuki would be competing against each other in the same ring. Stardom and Ice Ribbon supernovas who achieved big things early in their careers. It was a …

ChocoPro - #254 (9/11/2022) Mei Suruga & Chie Koishikawa vs. Yuna Mizumori & Sayaka Obihiro Great prelude to Mei and Yunamon's upcoming singles match at the anniversary event. Even though these two have been facing each other regularly for…

Tokyo Joshi Pro - Inspiration #5 (9/11/2022) Miyu Yamashita vs. Arisu Endo Miyu worked a more delicate singles main event than usual, without the excess and structural disarray of some of her most recent main events. I really enjoyed the o…

JTO - TakaTaichiDespeMania ~ TAKA Michinoku Debut 30th Anniversary ~ (9/12/2022) Tomoka Inaba & Aoi vs. Maika & MIRAI This was one of those magical matches that can never be duplicated. The right amount of back story and emotion, a recepti…

5. Blue Stars: MIRAI vs. Momo Watanabe I was looking forward to this and I wasn't disappointed. Momo as a conniving heel and MIRAI as a gentle and strong heroine. While it didn’t come close to MIRAI-Suzuki in quality, it was similarly a ba…

PURE-J (9/4/2022) Princess of Pro-Wrestling Championship: Crea (c) vs. Yuko Sakurai Yuko Sakurai is not the youngest member of COLOR's, but she's the least experienced and doesn't get as many opportunities as the others, so I was happy whe…